“Students Against Fees” tonight elected TCDSU President, Lynn Ruane, and Trinity News Editor-elect, Oisín Coulter, to their leadership committee. Until now, the group has had no organised leadership structure, despite being in existence since December.
Whilst both Ruane and Coulter were absent from the meeting this evening, Ruane has offered vocal support to the group since they were established after the failure of a motion opposing the introduction of government-supported loans at November’s TCDSU Council, and Coulter has acted as chair for most of the public meetings of the group since December.
The meeting focused on the need to form a clear and accountable committee, whose role would be to manage the campaign day-to-day, and to liaise with other organisations such as the TCDSU, while maintaining the “grass root” framework of the group, which has been the informal structure of the group since it began in October. There was much discussion on what structure the group should take, and whether it should be in the form of a “steering” committee, or a working group composed of different sub-groups.
A vote was then held to implement a “steering” committee to take responsibility for the group, going into the summer and for the beginning of the next academic year.
The other committee members elected were TCDSU Student Parents Officer, Carly Bailey, as well as Rory O’Neill, Orla Burke, Sean Egan, Mark McMahon, Eoghan Connolly, Ignacio Bartolomesanz, Conchuir Ó’Raidaigh, Dove Curpen, and Ellen O’Keefe.
A decision was also made that this group’s structure should be as “fluid” as possible, with the possibility of up to ten members.
There was strong unanimous agreement on the importance of continuing to organise “public assembly” meetings, similar to this evening’s meeting, and a vote was held in support of holding these assembly meetings monthly, where possible.
Discussion then moved onto how the campaign could grow over the summer. There was discussion on the possibility of campaigning during the summer, although it was acknowledged that there is a difficulty in organising students over the summer months.
In February, a group of over 60 students attended a “Students Against Fees” rally which jointed pickets at the two Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) campuses near Trinity in solidarity with the Teachers’ Union of Ireland (TUI) strikes.
In December, The University Times revealed that the government working group on higher education funding was to recommend a package that would include an income-contingent loan scheme in conjunction with a €1000 increase in the student contribution charge.
Since then, however, The University Times has learned that the report has been amended such that, instead of putting forward one main “feasible” option, the report will now present three options, including a “free fees” model.
